Villagers complain about Unocal
Monday, September 4 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
A recent gathering between the people of the Marangkayu village in East Kalimantan and Kutai Regent H. Syaukani had turned to be an arena for criticizing oil and gas company PT Unocal Indonesia operating in the area, according to the local Kaltim Post daily.
The paper reported that three out of 10 informal leaders of the Marangkayu village accused Unocal of polluting the local environment.
"The paddy fields of the Rapak Lama people have been polluted by Unocal waste materials. Every time there's a negotiation, the result was not satisfying ?," said H. Syakur, an informal leader of the Rapak Lama people.
Kutai Regent said that he would confirm the problem to the head of the local environmental watchdog or Bappedal.
Meanwhile, another Rapak Lama informal leader by the name of Buherah said that there were two oil and gas firms which have been operating in the area for around 30 years including Unocal and Vico Indonesie but their contribution to the local people was still far from sufficient.
Buherah also complained that the recruitment of the local people by the two companies had been minimum. (*)